Biden: We Want to Raise Taxes by a Trillion

Oct 5, 2012

RUSH: Now we move on to Vice President Bite Me. He was in Council Bluffs, Iowa, yesterday. It’s just a portion of what the vice president said. I thought they were actually trying to keep this guy sequestered until the debate with Ryan. He musta gotten out of the cage.

BIDEN: On top of the trillion dollars of spending we’ve already cut, we’re gonna ask, yes, we’re gonna ask the wealthy to pay more. My heart breaks. Come on, man. You know the phrase they always use? Obama and Biden wanna raise taxes by a trillion dollars. Guess what? Yes, we do, in one regard. We want to let that trillion-dollar tax cut expire so the middle class doesn’t have to bear the burden of all that money going to the super wealthy. That’s not a tax raise. That’s called fairness, where I come from.

RUSH: Okay. (laughing) Now the sad thing here is that I’m sure every derelict in that crowd agreed with him. I don’t even know where to start. He actually wants that crowd at that rally, and anybody else who hears this, to understand that he and Obama can’t wait for a trillion-dollar tax increase on the wealthy. (Biden impression) “Come on, man, my heart breaks for ’em. Screw the rich, which is what we intend to do. Come on, man, my heart breaks. Guess what? We’re gonna let that trillion-dollar tax cut expire so middle class doesn’t have to bear the burden.”

All right, let me tell you what’s gonna happen, ’cause here’s what he’s talking about. If nothing happens, the current tax rates on everybody expire. The current tax rates are erroneously called the Bush tax cuts. They are 11 years old. They are the existing tax rates. What is it, 35 for the upper bracket? And it’s gonna go up to 39.6, basically 40%. If the Bush tax cuts expire, everybody’s tax rates will go up to what they were in 2001. Not just the rich, everybody’s.

But let’s for a moment say that only the rich rates were gonna go up from 36 to 40. I want to know from people who are not in that tax bracket, how does somebody experiencing a rate increase from 36 to 40%, how in the world does that matter to you, in terms of your back pocket, your take-home pay? Because Biden says here, “We want to let that tax cut expire so the middle doesn’t have to bear the burden of all that money going to the super wealthy.” See, you are supposed to be satisfied that the increased tax payments from the rich go to government. That’s supposed to make you happy. The rich are getting screwed. That’s what they want you to think. “We’re really showing ’em the shaft. We’re screwing ’em, 5% tax increase, 4% rate increase.” It’s not coming to you. This whole notion, this is just obscene to me, and it’s pathetically stupid.

A friend of mine in Delaware, golf buddy, thinks Biden’s the smartest guy. I can’t relate. When I hear stuff like this, how can anybody think this guy has an IQ over that of a pencil eraser? We want to let that trillion-dollar tax cut expire so the middle class doesn’t have to bear the burden of all that money going to the super wealthy? So somehow you’re sitting out there paying whatever tax rate you are, the rich are paying a 35 or 36% tax rate, somehow that’s a burden on you? Whatever the rich tax rate is is a burden on you, and so we’re gonna raise the tax rate on the rich, and somehow relax the burden on you. How does that work? How does anybody’s taxes changing alter your life, your take-home pay, your financial circumstances? It doesn’t. But that’s irrelevant because the fact is, everybody’s tax rates are going up on January 1st. The Bush tax rates are not just for the rich.

I watched Rudy Giuliani on MSNBC after the debate. And there was some — they said he was a guy, the host, they said he was a guy. Coulda’ fooled me. I don’t remember the name. Biggest dunce. This guy was believing that Rudy Giuliani was getting away with murder. What this guy’s point was, that Rudy Giuliani wanted the tax rate to stay the same because that would equal a big tax cut for the rich. And Rudy said, “I don’t understand. The rate is 36%. If it doesn’t change, how is that a tax cut?” And this kid, who had been totally indoctrinated and programmed by whatever journalism school or whatever school he went to, had no answer for it. Because in his world, the Bush tax cuts not expiring equals a tax cut for the rich. It makes no sense whatsoever.

Then this little kid, I think he was a guy, started accusing Giuliani of having secret contracts with Homeland Security, and that’s why he was interested in the Bush tax rates changing so he would get a tax cut. And Rudy was pulling out what little hair he’s got left. He doesn’t have much left. Rudy couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He was beside himself, couldn’t believe he was talking to somebody so stupid. Rudy didn’t know how to make himself dumb enough to talk to this kid. It’s difficult enough for me to repeat it. It was so stupid, I’m not sure I’ve got it right.

This kid thought if the Bush tax cuts don’t expire, they stay the same. Thirty-six percent is what it is, if it doesn’t change, if the Bush tax cuts don’t expire, which they didn’t. They were supposed to in 2010 and Obama knew that if the tax rates went up, that would be bad for the economy, so he extended the Bush tax rates. The left calls ’em the Bush tax cuts but they’re the existing tax rates for 11 years. If those tax rates don’t expire, everything stays the same. Somehow that becomes a tax cut. It’s beyond me, folks.